xix, 296 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : 23 cm

Dylan Thomas was one of the most extraordinary poetic talents of the twentieth century. He lived a life that was rarely without incident and died a death that has gone down in legend as the epitome of Bohemian dissoluteness. This book explores that life and its extraordinary legacy through the eyes of her father, the artist Alfred Janes, who was Thomas' great friend and painted the poet at three key moments, in 1934, 1953 and, posthumously, 1965. Using the portraits as focal points, this book plots the poet's journey from his birthplace in Swansea to his untimely death in a New York hospital in 1953. Drawing on a personal archive that includes drawings, diaries, letters and new interviews with Thomas's friends and descendants, as well as with biographers, critics and art historians, it manages to bring to life the poet and his times in this unorthodox but powerful narrative. Goes beneath the reputation of the feckless, disloyal, boozy Welsh bard to reveal a very complex character. Feckless and disloyal, yes, but also lovable, charming, scholarly, dedicated and vulnerable

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